3 tips to get back into shape after a long break
Not so fast, literally.
That is the advice doctors and fitness experts offer to those trying rush back to active exercising after letting their bones and joints hibernate over the winter. Spring can be a peak time for straining quads, tweaking backs and other injuries as people try to get back on an exercise routine.
Brandon Nemeth, a fitness specialist at Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago, offers these tips to avoid injury:
- Warm up: You may want to just jump back into a full-throttle workout, but you need to warm up ahead of time. It can be simply 10 to 15 minutes of stretching or walking on a treadmill. Warming up will also help you recover if you are coming back after injury.
- Start slowly: Remember several months back when you could bench press 300 pounds with ease? Well, lifting heavy weights is not like riding a bike, so it takes everyone time to get up to speed with their peak performance after time off. Starting out too fast could cause injuries to tendons, shoulders, back and legs.
- Start a regular regime: One of the best ways to avoid an unintended injury is to get back into the habit of a regular exercise regime.
“Every year, millions of people make the decision to start an exercise routine. Unfortunately, over half those who begin a cardio fitness program quit within the first six months,” says Nemeth. “Although there are many reasons for this high dropout rate, a lack of time is commonly cited as a major one. Finding time for exercise in a busy schedule is difficult, but it is not impossible.”
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health enews staff is a group of experienced writers from our Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care sites, which also includes freelance or intern writers.
I needed these tips! It was a long winter and I’m slowly ramping up again.